Michael Waltrip wins on 10th anniversary of Earnhardt death

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - It's never too late to win, even 10 years later.

Michael Waltrip really never got a chance to celebrate his 2001 Daytona 500 victory as his team owner, Dale Earnhardt, died in a last-lap wreck in the race.

Friday night, 10 years to the day of that accident, Waltrip, in a Truck designed to honor Earnhardt, won again, passing Elliott Sadler on the last lap of the NASCAR Truck Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway. His victory - his first in the series - still came as a surprise.

"I came to celebrate a life," Waltrip said from Victory Lane after winning the NextEra 250. "I didn't come to celebrate a win."

Waltrip, however, might have had an unintended assist in his victory.

Sometime during the final two laps, the right side of his rear spoiler collapsed and only half of the spoiler was up when he crossed the finish line.

Although NASCAR doesn't traditionally take away wins, there was no immediate response from series officials if any penalty would result. Spoiler height is a carefully controlled area of cars and trucks at the sport's superspeedways. Lower spoiler angles can help increase speeds.

Sadler said he was certain the missing spoiler helped Waltrip, but thought Waltrip would probably have won the race anyway.

"He made a really good move off of Turn 4. He was going to side draft off of me. It might have been a little bit closer to the line, but he had a lot of momentum," Sadler said.

"That's not the reason why (he won). It definitely helped some. He made a really good move off of Turn 4."

Clay Rogers finished third, Miguel Rogers was fourth and Kyle Busch finished fifth.

For Waltrip, Friday was a difficult day.

"I've been emotional all day long. I see one of my buddies and we laugh about things with Dale and I see another buddy and we cry," Waltrip said.

"I was determined to win the race for him. I tried to win Lap 3 for him and I was close. Then, I tried to lead the last lap."

Sadler and Waltrip had survived a bad wreck on the frontstretch with five laps left that collected 10 trucks and erupted just behind the race leaders.

By the time the wreck was cleared only the top four trucks appeared to be damage-free. An earlier 14-car wreck collected several contenders, including Todd Bodine.